After six seasons as the head coach at Florida International, Cristobal will return to the University of Miami as an assistant coach. The school officially announced Cristobal's hiring on Thursday afternoon.

He will coach the tight ends, while Brennan Carroll will move over to coach the wide receivers.

Cristobal was fired by FIU in December after a disappointing 3-9 season. He had led FIU to two bowl appearances.

Cristobal, who was 27-47 at FIU, coached tight ends and the offensive line at UM from 2004-06.

He also was a star player in the program's prime years. A member of the 1989 and '91 national championship teams, Cristobal briefly played in NFL Europe before moving into the coaching profession.

Cristobal replaces outgoing wide receivers coach George McDonald, who took the same job at the University of Arkansas. So far, it's the only change in coach Al Golden's staff in his two-plus seasons at Miami.

The move is expected to help Miami's recruiting efforts — especially in South Florida.

“He truly knows what it means to be a Miami Hurricane,” said Gino Torretta, the 1992 Heisman Trophy winner and Cristobal’s UM teammate from 1989-92. “You don’t need a sales pitch to sell a recruit on your alma mater. It’s in your blood.”

UM, Vanderbilt, FSU and Stanford are all even, Cunningham said. He won't announce until signing day next month.

Current running back Dallas Crawford made one of the first public acknowledgments of the hiring before the official announcement.

"Welcome back to the family Coach Cristobal," Crawford posted on Twitter.

At 42, Cristobal had been one of the hottest names in coaching before a disappointing 2012 season. He reportedly turned down the Rutgers head job after the 2011 season.

Cristobal was responsible for one of the quickest program turnarounds in college football history at FIU.

He accepted the Panthers head coaching job after the team posted a 0-12 season in 2006, and before the school had a weight room or a football stadium. In 2010 and 2011, the team went to back-to-back bowl games before slipping in 2012.